Urgent Repair Notice served on MTCRC

The Save Dreamland Campaign was launched by Joyland Books in January 2003 and is now supported by several thousand people. This is the place to discuss all aspects of saving Margate's famous amusement park and its iconic , Grade II listed Scenic Railway, Britain's oldest roller coaster.

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Urgent Repair Notice served on MTCRC

Postby porf » 29 Jul 2008, 08:44

Unfortunately it's not forcing them to restore the Scenic Railway that they allowed to burn to the ground, but to protect what remains.

They apparently have 2 weeks to secure the Scenic Railway before the council acts to secure it and bills them for the work.

More details at : http://www.kentnews.co.uk/kent-news/Dreamland-owner-told-to-protect-rollercoaster-site-newsinkent14884.aspx

Seems a shame that given how devasted MTCRC professed to be over the fire that it takes a council enforcement to get them to protect an "at risk" structure.
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Postby EAS » 29 Jul 2008, 08:58

I think the phrase 'full of sound and fury, signifying nothing' springs to mind...

However, good that Thanet is acting. Let's hope that similar action is taken over the cinema, as the organ is now deteriorating. The whole place is greatly at risk.


Nick has updated the News page regarding the Prince's Trust report.

BUT Lottery cash will be very, very hard to find... many deserving causes have had it refused, as so much is being diverted to the Olympics.
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Postby Jim Douglas Jr. » 29 Jul 2008, 20:00

The Olympics are sort of a joke. So much politics, drug testing, cheating, backstabbing. Not at ALL the uniting, friendly competition it's supposed to be.
Most of the athletes aren't even allowed to socialize with athletes from other countries any more.
Let the corporate sponsors pay for all of it. I don't know why it should be the tax payers burden.
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Postby erclairedoc » 29 Jul 2008, 23:26

Well the Olympics are happening but it's the Scenic and our Heritage Park that should be our focal point. The Olympics may severely restrict the funds available from lottery funding but there is no suggestion that this will leave no funds for our park. This is a great resource that we have available; lets not write it off as 'unlikely' at such an early stage.

As for the Urgent Works Notice, it's not the rebuild that we so desperately want but it is a step in the right direction. Little steps at first but we are getting somewhere. This also shows that the council will act to protect our coaster and this is a very positive move. All of this should spur us on in our campaign.
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Postby EAS » 30 Jul 2008, 07:42

Well, many deserving causes have been refused funding in the latest round, so it's as well to be aware that this is not the unlimited pot of funding it once was thought to be. Of course, this will not be available to the owners, unless the public benefits can be proven to be more than any private gain, so the legalities and operation of a Trust will have to be considered in depth. Match funding will be required too, a long way to go yet.

Protection of the site is a good first step.
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Postby porterm » 01 Aug 2008, 00:37

I think this is indeed encouraging news, and once again I feel that the Council should be applauded for their stance on this situation. I was wondering what was going to happen after hearing that they were initially going to give Dreamland's owners up to six months to begin rebuilding/securing work on the Scenic Railway.

It is not the ultimate Notice most of us here would like to see awarded to MTCRC but it is at least a start. Rather ironically though, their proposals appear to suggest the return of similar metal security fencing which we opposed to whilst the attraction was operating in recent years. For the current position though I reckon this would be just about the best security for the listed structure. (It was surely not very well protected since the park's last operating season and the potentially vulnerable state the grounds were left in up to recent times, especially with a public car park in front of it with little apparent security).

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Postby EAS » 01 Aug 2008, 08:48

I wonder what, in the end, happened about that fence? I wrote and sent a long objection based on planning grounds - the failure by the owners of the site to apply for the appropriate permissions before erecting the fence - and heard not a peep more. No notification of a hearing, nothing.

With regard to the legalities - things have to happen in a particular order. The first step has been taken.
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Postby vince69619 » 02 Aug 2008, 06:14

So a week has almost past, does anyone know if any work has commenced?

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Postby erclairedoc » 02 Aug 2008, 10:58

It didn't look like anything had been done when I looked yesterday but I'm going to go and have another look today. I will post on here if I see anything happening.
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Postby dave771 » 05 Aug 2008, 21:02

After a visit to the park today it seems that work has been started on fencing off the Scenic Railway. When work has been completed will send pics for all to view,

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Postby erclairedoc » 06 Aug 2008, 00:12

Good to see some new fencing going up around the scenic. Will be interesting to see how it progresses over the next few days. This protection is overdue but finally happening.
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Postby Jim Douglas Jr. » 06 Aug 2008, 23:07

Maybe this will all finally be taken seriously.
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Postby EAS » 11 Aug 2008, 11:31

A picture from 1955 showing how large the site and how full it was:

http://www.francisfrith.com/search/engl ... M31317.htm
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